Othello Layered Cake

Suddenly I wanted to bake something with marzipan. The first time I tried anything with marzipan, I really loathed it but slowly the taste creep on me and now I can accept it. I'm not saying I am a huge fan but at least, when I eat it I don't fill like eating a poison! Hahha..There are lots of cake/biscuit that I can bake with marzipan but when I accidentally came across a picture of this cake in one of the supermarket brochure, I knew I want to bake it.

This cake is very tedious to make and for that reason, I only bake it when I reallllllyyy want to eat it. And I need to find other people to eat it too because I only need a slice or two to satisfied my craving. Why do I said it is tedious? Well, because there are so many step to go through in order to complete the whole cake. The making of each part of the cake is pretty simple and the ingredients also not that many. But because I will not buy things I can bake/cook unless I am super duper lazy that is..so I ignore the hard part & looking forward to eat a slice!!

There are seven step in making this cake and seven different part that you need to do and assemble to get the complete cake. Now, I will show the 1-7 steps, plus the ingredient of each part so you can get rough idea of the whole process.

First, I make the marzipan base. I prefer to do this first as that is the base of the cake anyway. All you need is marzipan, white sugar and egg white.

My marzipan is yellowish in color. You can find either white or yellow marzipan..

Broke it into small pieces using your finger then add the sugar..

Add the egg white..

And mix it all using a hand mixer..

Then place it in the same tray that you will bake the layer cake later on so that it will have the same size. Place the baking sheet on the base of the baking tray & pour the marzipan base inside the baking tray. 

And bake for 20 minutes in a 200C temperature. Well, some people like to bake it on a piece of baking paper without using any baking tray. You can do that but make sure you measure the size first before piping the marzipan on top of the baking paper. Once it is bake, leave it aside to cool off while we make the layer cake. But before that, here's the ingredients for the marzipan base;

• 200gm of marzipan
• 3 eggs white
• 125gm of sugar

Secondly, we will do the vanilla cake bundt aka the layered cake. The ingredients; flour, sugar, eggs, baking powder and vanilla sugar. 

Mix the flour & baking power in a mixing bowl. In a separate mixing bowl, beat the egg and sugar, then add the vanilla sugar.

Then add the dry ingredients & mix with a spatula.…

So, you will get your batter and it is ready to bake in the oven.

You need two vanilla cake, so you either bake it in one tray & separate it later or you can bake it separately in two baking tray (make sure you divide it evenly). As for me, I just used the same tray (same tray that I used for my marzipan base) & divided it into two cake later on. Bake the cake in a 200C temperature for 10 minutes. Leave it to cool off for a few minutes & take it out from the tray. Here my vanilla cake…already cut into two cakes..:)

And here the ingredients;

• 125gm of sugar
• 4 eggs
• 125gm of flour
• 3/4 tsp of baking powder
• 1/2 tsp of vanilla sugar

Now, we move to the third part, that is the vanilla cake cream. Ok..for this one..sorry eh, no picture. It is not easy to bake & take picture at the same time especially when your hand is covered with flour! Hahah..so I just provide the end product, the method & ingredients ok. Hehhe..

Ingredients for the vanilla cake cream;

• 2 eggs
• 30gm of cornflour
• 2 tbsp of vanilla sugar
• 1/2 L of milk
• 75gm of sugar

To do the cream, you need to beat the egg in a saucepan and slowly adding the cornflour (using low heat). Then add the vanilla sugar, milk and white sugar. Keep stirring and let it boil for 1/2 to 1 minutes. Once the texture of the cream is thick & a bit sticky, removed from heat & place in a bowl & cover with cling film. Put inside the fridge until you need it later. This how it should look like..a bit sticky..thick & yellowish.

Now we need to assemble the cake..this is the four part. Placed the marzipan base on your chosen cake plate & spread some strawberry jam on the top. Making sure you cover all the top surface. Then spread some vanilla cake cream on top of the strawberry jam. Don't used all the vanilla cake cream because you still need it for the other layer. Yes..it look very messy..

…but don't worry, it will look better. :) Then stack one layer of the vanilla cake on top…

As you can see from this picture..I cut some part of the cake on the side. This is because you need to make sure that all part of the cake are equally. So..apa lagi..I potong la. Hehhe..Don't worry, It will look nice. Then spread some more of the vanilla cake cream on top of the cake. And stake another cake on top..

So, basically you have a 3 layered cake. Now..you can see right some of the jam & cream coming out from the side. What you do is, using a spatula or spread knife..even up all the cream. I used it to cover all the 'imperfection'..

There you go..heheh..

Ok. We move to the fifth part that is to do the marzipan cover. All you need is marzipan, icing sugar & liquid glucose (you can get this in a bakery shop).

Before that, you need to sprinkle some icing sugar on the counter top or rolling mat (like the one I have) so that you can rolled the marzipan easily as the liquid glucose is very sticky. For this, you need to measure the height of your cake and the measurement around your cake because you need to cover the cake with it.

Mix the liquid glucose with the marzipan & knead the marzipan dough while gradually adding the icing sugar. Then roll it according to your measurement..and it look like this (in my case)..

  Remember the cream that 'spilling' out from the cake & I told you to evenly spread it to the side….yes, the function of that cream is to act as 'glue' for the marzipan cover. Before you cover the cake with marzipan, use the last remaining cream cake and spread it on top of the cake..

Then carefully, take the marzipan cover & slowly cover the cake with it. Gently pressing the marzipan to the cake..and you get this..

You might realized that the marzipan cover is a bit higher than the cake. Yes..that is purposely done. You will know why soon! Hehhe..

Ingredient for marzipan cover;

• 150gm of marzipan
• 175gm of icing sugar (including to sprinkle on the counter top for rolling)
• 50gm of liquid glucose

So, now we move to the sixth part ( I told you doing this cake is a lengthy process!! ). We will do the frosting, which for this cake, we're using chocolate ganache. 

I just melt the chocolate button in a microwave then slowly stir it as I gradually adding the cream (only two ingredients). Nice & easy. No measurement for this ingredient..u need to know the texture u need...When you get the right texture..not too runny..not too thick..you just spread it on top of the cake..

Now you see why the marzipan cover have to be higher? Heheh..to avoid the chocolate ganache to spill over.

And the seventh and last step…phewww…by now, I am already tired and my feet is killing me!! The last one is the topping and luckily it's just whipped cream! Pour some cream into a mixing bowl & whipped until it's stiff enough. How to check whether the whipped cream is OK..well just turn the bowl upside down. If the cream do not fall off, then it is stiff enough. :) Using a piping bag…I piped the whipped cream on top of the cake..

For the topping, I only used 1/2 cup of cream.

So..there you go. Othello Layered Cake..now it's time for me to enjoy a slice..

Ps. It's sweet so 1slice is enough with lots of plain water. Hehhehe...